#NaPoWriMo An Ode On Saturday Morning

The Rosebush

Copious buds bloom
Petals lay bare on sidewalk
Nothing gold can stay

NaPoWriMo Prompt – Our optional prompt for the day also honors the idea of Saturday (the Saturdays of the soul, perhaps?), by challenging you to write an ode to life’s small pleasures. Perhaps it’s the first sip of your morning coffee. Or finding some money in the pockets of an old jacket. Discovering a bird’s nest in a lilac bush or just looking up at the sky and watching the clouds go by.

Good morning and welcome to day eighteen of napowrimo where my ode to the rosebush looks suspiciously like a haiku with a borrowed line no less.  Here is the link to read Robert Frost’s poem. I grabbed the link from poets.org as they are running a shelter in poems series, asking readers to share poems they are reflecting on while we are sheltering in place. My favorite Frost poem, A question, doesn’t seem to be in their archives. I used it on a previous napowrimo for a golden shovel.

Yesterday we ventured outside headed off to the mailbox. Robin’s reading care package from Changing Hands Bookstore seems to be MIA. As we walked down the sidewalk, Robin was hit in the face by a flying object and exclaimed, What was that? Gretchen responded, I think it was a petal from the rosebush. They’re all over the sidewalk. Yes, it was pretty windy yesterday and rose petals were dropping off and flying away. On top of being hit in the face there was no book in the mailbox. 😦 Maybe today will be a good mail day.

Pea TV Moment on Haiku Day

Good morning readers and welcome to day seventeen of napowrimo also known as haiku day because of seventeen for the 17 syllables in haiku. Please excuse the interruption of today’s prompt. I will get to it later. But first I wanted to share this Pea TV Moment Patricia over at poetrypea was kind enough to accept. She has compiled quite a few haiku moments from some talented poets. Please go over to her website and check them all out.

I must make a confession. I have spied the hummingbirds feeding on the aloe often. I wrote the haiku, hoping I would be able to capture one moment on video. I should know better as the photos of the hummingbirds at the aloe I’ve posted have been borrowed from my children. Well a few weeks ago, we were sitting at the kitchen table for dinner. My whole family was aware of my quest, and we spotted a hummingbird skimming the aloe. The first attempt did not get enough footage. But a few minutes later a hummingbird was back, Gretchen said, give me your phone, Mom. So Gretchen was actually the one who successfully filmed the hummingbird. She just showed me another video she took last night on her phone. A hummingbird was actually sitting and resting on one of the aloe stalks. She said it must have been there for a good ten minutes because when she first spotted it, she didn’t have her phone. She raced down the hall to her bedroom, grabbed her phone, and the hummingbird was still on its perch.

March and April are always a good time of year to watch the hummingbirds feed. As you can see, the aloe really enjoyed our wet winter; they bloomed exceptionally well this year. Farther down the row of aloe closer to the front yard is where the rosebush is planted. It now has over a dozen buds in bloom. Shawn and I went for a walk yesterday and he said the rosebush really seems to flourish in death. Good grief. But he does have a point. If our rosebush had 3 or 4 buds in a year (at separate times) I thought it was nice. It really has taken off this spring for some reason.

#NaPoWriMo Favorite Music

 

The River Tour Phoenix, AZ March 10 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Shawn and me at Springsteen concert

 

The Boss

Listen to Bruce Springsteen
When I was a teen
The poets down here don’t write nothing at all
Jungleland lyrics I often recall

NaPoWriMo Prompt – Our prompt for the day (optional, as always) takes its cue from Arkansas. Today, I’d like  to challenge you to write a poem inspired by your favorite kind of music. Try to recreate the sounds and timing of a pop ballad, a jazz improvisation, or a Bach fugue. That could mean incorporating refrains, neologisms and flights of whimsy, or repeating/inverting lines or ideas – whatever your chosen musical form would seem to require! Perhaps a good way to start is to listen to your favorite piece of music and “free-write” for the duration  of the piece, and then use what you’ve written as the building blocks for your poem.

Good morning readers and welcome to day fifteen of napowrimo; we made it to the halfway point. So no, I didn’t follow the prompt exactly but I did write a poem highlighting one of my favorite musicians. When I saw today’s featured participant wrote clerihews for yesterday’s prompt, I thought it would be fun to try one today. And as you can see, I do like Jungleland; I think it’s my favorite Springsteen song. Don’t read the pantoum too closely, if I recall I messed up on the rhyme scheme. It does allude to the story of my youth. I still blame Shawn for making me grow old.

Congrats! to everyone who has made it to the halfway point. Keep up the great (or not so great) work. Just keep writing.

#NaPoWriMo Flowers

 

Rosebush in front yard

Stolen bud from rosebush

Girl no longer chaste
Plucks a rose from his garden
Red as her cherry

NaPoWriMo Prompt – For today, I challenge you to write a poem in which one or more flowers take on specific meanings. And if you’re having trouble getting started, why not take a gander at this glossary of flower meanings? (You can find a plain-text version here). Feel free to make use of these existing meanings, or make up your own.

Good morning and welcome to day eleven of NaPoWriMo where I have found inspiration in our rose bush. I have taken pictures of the roses before; I love when the buds are in bloom. This year it has really flourished. Early this week when I went out to check the mail, I decided I wanted to snatch a bud to adorn my table. My kitchen table is a mess right now, so I snapped the photo in front of my bedroom window.

Yes, I deflowered my husband’s rosebush. 😉 Turn about’s fair play, right? Not to worry, the bush has over half a dozen buds this year, as I said, it has really flourished this spring. I hope everyone enjoys their Easter weekend and has the chance to go out and smell the roses.

#NaPoWriMo Concrete Poem

Card in my reading care package from Changing Hands Bookstore 

Serendipity

Stumbling upon
Happy chance
Kismet
Luck
Fortune smiles on you

NaPoWriMo Prompt – Our prompt for the day (optional as always) is inspired by Kaschock’s use of space to organize her poems. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a “concrete” poem – a poem in which the lines and words are organized to take a shape that reflects in some way the theme of the poem. This might seem like a very modernist idea, but poets have been writing concrete poems since the 1600s! Your poem can take a simple shape, like a box or ball, or maybe you’ll have fun trying something more elaborate, like this poem in the shape of a Christmas tree.

Good morning readers and welcome to day nine of napowrimo where we get to write a shape poem. The first time I participated in NaPoWriMo I wrote a concrete poem in the shape of a teapot (the format does not work on mobile devices so I hope everyone is on a computer). Since then I have written a few more concrete poems including teacup dictionary poems.

As it happens the word serendipity has been on my mind. I used it in my April 4 post on dreams, thinking our dinner discussion the previous night was rather serendipitous. After that I was looking at my care package from Changing Hands Bookstore and saw the card explaining serendipity – it has suited my needs quite well.

Commander Riker – “Fate. Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise.” (Star Trek)

For anyone interested on a how to teacup dictionary poem. Happy writing! I hope fortune smiles on everyone today as well as the rest of April.

#NaPoWriMo News Article Poem

Comfort Masks

Masks
Give comfort
Wear in public
Stop virus from spreading
Cover

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And speaking of news, today our prompt (optional, of course) is another oldie-but-goodie: a poem based on a news article. Frankly, I understand why you might be avoiding the news lately, but this is a good opportunity to find some “weird” and poetical news stories for inspiration.

Good morning readers and welcome to day seven of NaPoWriMo where I contribute to the mask debate. I saw a story on the news about making and donating comfort masks here in Arizona. One of the drop off locations is in Sun City, close to my mother-in-law (she’s the seamstress not me) so I shared the article with her yesterday. When I read today’s prompt that was the news article I thought of first. And my long time readers should know by now I like short poems. It’s funny to realize my extra tidbits on the daily prompts are the most I’ve typed in quite some time.

Before I go, a link to my niece’s etsy page if anyone is looking to buy comfort masks. And for all my readers who are also participating in NaPoWriMo – Congratulations we have hit the one week mark! Keep writing my friends.

#NaPoWriMo Backyard Garden

Tortoise enjoys a treat

Backyard Garden

Tortoise
surveys his kingdom
slow and
methodical

Little dog
scurries about
seeking an audience

NaPoWriMo Prompt – Today’s (optional) prompt is ekphrastic in nature – but rather particular! Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem from the point of view of one person/animal/thing from Hieronymous Bosch’s famous (and famously bizarre) triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights. Whether you take the position of a twelve-legged clam, a narwhal with a cocktail olive speared on its horn, a man using an owl as a pool toy, or a backgammon board being carried through a crowd by a fish wearing a tambourine on its head, I hope that you find the experience deliriously amusing. And if the thought of speaking in the voice of a porcupine-as-painted-by-a-man-who-never-saw-one leaves you cold, perhaps you might write from the viewpoint of Bosch himself? Very little is known about him, so there’s plenty of room for invention, embroidery, and imagination.

Good morning readers and welcome to day six of napowrimo. I’m not sure my septolet is exactly on point, but back in my early bird post I wrote about how Shawn has been working on a garden in our backyard. He also put together a nice sitting area (where Gretchen and I took her birthday photo with the  pink garland filter). I have been spending my mornings out there, drinking my coffee. It is also where I was reading my book. Since I finished the book, I decided to take my poetry journal out there this morning hoping for inspiration. The septolet came from watching the dog and tortoise interact though I’m not too sure I’d really call it interaction. The tortoise seems to tolerate the dog’s nonsense.

Well my coffee is finished and my poem is written so I guess I have to get on with my Monday. I hope everyone is hanging in and finding inspiration in their everyday life. As I wrote later in the day yesterday –

Wish for excitement
Life continues as normal
Keep towel handy

Yes, my life has had barely a blip with the stay at home order, but if any alien ships show up in orbit I do know where my towel is. 😉 And no I would never intermingle two different sci-fi domains.

#NaPoWriMo First Contact Day

Keep a safe distance
First time greeting aliens
Live long and prosper

Star Trek: First Contact 1996

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : The date. Data, I need to know the exact date.
Lieutenant Commander Data : April 4th, 2063.
Cmdr. William Riker : April 4th, the day before first contact.
Lieutenant Commander Data : Precisely.

 

Hello readers and welcome to day five of NaPoWriMo – aka First Contact Day. Sorry for the interruption of your regularly scheduled prompt.
NaPoWriMo Prompt – Our (optional) prompt for today is one that we have used in past years, but which I love to come back to, because it so often takes me to new and unusual places, and results in fantastic poems. It’s called the “Twenty Little Poetry Projects,” and was originally developed by Jim Simmerman. The challenge is to use/do all of the following in the same poem. Of course,  if you can’t fit all twenty projects into your poem, or a few of them get your poem going, that is just fine too!

In other news, we pulled off a very successful birthday celebration yesterday (the day before first contact).

 

Festive ambiance
Wish many happy returns
Casa de Hosking

Decorate backyard
She does not reveal her wish
Quarantine party

The dinner portion of last night’s celebration was a bit tricky. We all went to Hayashi Hibachi for Shawn’s birthday at the end of February and Gretchen actually ate and enjoyed the sushi. She wanted to make a return trip for her birthday and then the stay at home order came. Well even before then, restaurants weren’t offering dine-in services, but I told her there is no problem ordering take-out. Mom was wrong Hayashi Hibachi has virtually no online presence and we could not find a menu to view. Shawn actually drove over to the restaurant; yes management is aware of the sucky online presence but they’re a chain and don’t have much of a say. Dad took pictures of the sushi options and we made our selection here at home; Dad placed the order and then went over to Total Wine to wait. He actually took a picture of the parking lot as no one was around except for the wine store. Yes folks if you have to be stuck indoors with your family for a month and more we all need alcoholic beverages to cope. Of course in my opinion, a little bit of poetry doesn’t hurt. Hope every has a safe and happy first contact day!

#NaPoWriMo Rhymes in a Book

Care Package from Changing Hands Bookstore

Feeling Blue

Why am I blue
Always searching for your letter
Why am I blue
Do you see how well your words woo
Our tete a tete helps unfetter
I no longer feel embitter
Why am I blue

NaPoWriMo Prompt – Today’s prompt (optional, as always) asks you to make use of our resource for the day. First, make a list of ten words. You can generate this list however you’d like – pull a book  off the shelf and find ten words you like, name ten things you can see from where you’re sitting, etc. Now, for each word, use Rhymezone to identify two to four similar-sounding or rhyming words. For example, if my word is “salt,” my similar words might be “belt,” “silt,” “sailed,” and “sell-out.”

Once you’ve assembled your complete list, work on writing a poem using your new “word bank.” You don’t have to use every word, of course, but try to play as much with sound as possible, repeating  sounds and echoing back to others using your rhyming and similar words.

Good morning readers and welcome to day three of NaPoWriMo. Do you recognize the rondelet? This is a little rhyming dribble inspired by the book I am currently reading. One of our local bookstores, Changing Hands, has found a unique way to keep their employees working while we are all on a stay at home order – book care packages. And yes, I ordered one for myself. It arrived on April 1st and I can assure you they did a great job picking out a book I would enjoy – definitely not feeling blue.

In fact I was so thrilled with the book selection they sent me, I helped thing two order one for herself yesterday. And thing one put in an order for themself this morning. The evil twin even told me she ordered from the bookstore as well.  Which, don’t get me wrong, I was pleased to learn, but I did have to question why she was not supporting her own local bookstore in Pennsylvania.  She said she was unaware of any and if they did have any independent bookstores, she didn’t hear about them putting together fun reading packages.

Ahhh… the life of an introvert. Yes, I have my nose planted in the pages of a book. Okay sticking it out for a minute to write today’s poem and to ask – Are my extrovert friends, assuming any come here to read this, doing well? May I suggest ordering from Changing Hands. If you don’t trust them to pick a title for you they do have the pick your own book option. Happy Reading!

#NaPoWriMo Early Bird Prompt

Wikipedia Photo Credit

Flowers are in bloom
Hear the pyrrhuloxia sing
Signs of spring abound

NaPoWriMo Early Bird Prompt – And now, in the spirit of an early-bird prompt, I’d like to invite you to write a poem about your favorite bird. As this collection of snippets from longer poems suggests, birds have been inspiring poets for a very long time indeed!

Good Afternoon readers! I thought I would introduce you to the pyrrhuloxia more commonly called the desert cardinal as in actuality the cardinal is my favorite bird, but since living in the desert for over 20 years now; I’ve grown to appreciate the beauty of my desert cardinal. And for those, who like me, look at the word pyrrhuloxia and wonder how in the world do I pronounce it.

Shawn has been busy working in the backyard cleaning and planting. This morning I went out there to enjoy my morning coffee and watch him work. The #haikuchallenge word today is channel. Of course, I used my morning as inspiration.

Enjoy morning sun
Stop flipping TV channels
Excuse the bed head

Gardner hard at work
Channeling his green thumb to
Grow vegetables

And since April begins tomorrow, there is a birthday to celebrate on Saturday. Poor Gretchen already feels her birthday gets a bum wrap. She never had any luck with birthday parties as so often her birthday falls near or on Easter and then when she was in high school she learned it was the day MLK was assassinated. Arizona will be on a stay at home order as of 5pm today; so yeah Gretchen gets to celebrate another year #ForeverAlone (as she puts it). I’m hoping she will get a wonderful social distancing surprise this Saturday through social media and turn her frown upside.

Birthday approaching
Channel positivity
Over doom and gloom

Well if you’ll excuse me, I’ve whittled my morning away writing and daydreaming in my backyard. I best be off to do something productive today. I’ll see everyone again tomorrow for the official kick off of NaPoWriMo.